The dramatic US operation that overthrew Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro this month may have left North Korean leader Kim Jong Un feeling he was also vulnerable to "decapitation", a former Pyongyang envoy to Havana told AFP.

In a wide-ranging interview, Lee Il-kyu -- who served as Pyongyang's political counsellor in Cuba from 2019 until 2023 -- said Washington's lightning extraction in Caracas was a worst-case scenario for his former boss.

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